Waldorf Day Camp Enjoys Second Summer

By Larissa Lytwyn

Enrollment numbers soared for the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School’s second annual summer day camp, a five-week journey into a variety of artistically and intellectually inspired themes, including farming, nature, and the circus, open to all children regionwide.

“At our peak, we had about 30 or more kids a session,” said director Ginger Hanrahan. While some children enjoyed a one-week experience, others stayed two, three, or even the entire period, July 7 through August 8.

Founded in the late 19th Century by Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner, Waldorf education is integral to the holistic mind, body, and spirit-based principles advocated in his theories. The K–8 Housatonic Valley Waldorf’s School’s mission statement is, in part, “to educate, inspire and instill in each child courage, integrity and a passion for learning.” Many of the school’s teachers are artistically inclined, some even professional sculptors, painters, and crafters. Most, including Ms Hanrahan, knit, spin, crochet, and weave. Potential instructors who have acquired certification through non-Waldorf institutions are required to obtain further tutelage at area Waldorf colleges before being considered for employment.

The summer camp’s first week celebrated traditional farming life. Campers visited local farms and engaged in activities including homemade bread making, fleece spinning, and felt weaving to gain a more comprehensive understanding of agrarian living. They also learned stories, songs, and other artistic pursuits to creatively express their newfound knowledge.

During the second week, children learned about nature through the study of mythology, folk song, and games. Campers also hiked some of Connecticut’s most beloved trails, paper and paintbrushes often in hand to sketch and paint their surroundings. Children also visited animal sanctuaries and other nature-based facilities.

The third week, dubbed “the circus tent,” encouraged children to improve hand-eye coordination through activities including juggling. “Circus themes are very strong [in educational curricula] throughout the nation,” said Ms Hanrahan. The theme was so popular among this year’s campers that it was integrated into the camp’s fourth week.

The circus theme subsisted well with the fourth week’s theme, “Culture Club.” Waldorf curriculum is infused with the influence of teachers and students from the Americas, Europe, and elsewhere. Waldorf students are required to study two foreign languages throughout their eight-year tenure. According to Ms Hanrahan, the school has always been an internationally minded.

Columbian native Jimena Concha, a Housatonic Valley Waldorf Spanish instructor, is spending her summer teaching arts and crafts to campers. During “Culture Club,” children had the opportunity to craft flutes and other objects. “The Waldorf school system is just wonderful,” said Ms Concha, who enjoyed a Waldorf education in her native country. “There is a lot of diversity.” Class size, she continued, is reasonably small, with a ration of about one teacher to 20 students.

“Waldorf has a very strong community, familylike feeling,” said Ms Hanrahan. During the school year, she serves as an administrator to the Danbury Alliance for Community Youth. Discipline for very young children at Waldorf, she said, revolves around parables. “Instead of saying, ‘you did this,’” she said, “we say something like ‘this kitty cat hurt this kitty cat by doing this.’” This, she continued, allows children to conceptually understand the larger issue of right or wrong. When older children face difficulty, the entire community, she said, becomes involved in finding a solution for the problem. “The parents are very involved here,” she said.

For more information, contact Ms Hanrahan at 364-1113, email hvwsa@bestweb.net, or visit www.waldorfct.org.